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larluce · 2 months

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Arthur and Merlin travel back in time without knowing the other is from the future too AU

Tagging @aceauthorcatqueen , @fallenxjas , @smileytrinity ,@lucifertookmyshoe , @an-entity-i-think , @thecornerofbelu , @griffonskies , @odinjm , @cinnabon-sweetroll-tiramisu , @thelady-mary , @bennedict , @nightninjaboy , @st8-of-grace , @star-rie , @error-username-not-available , @dogberryrowan , @jamieweasley13 , @tansyuduri , @tercais , @robynnemrys because we deserved a better epic battle between Merlin and Nimueh.

LINKS TO THE OTHER PARTS OF THIS AU HERE: PART 1 , PART 2 , PART 3 , PART 4 , PART 5 , PART 6 , PART 7 , PART 8 , PART 9 , PART 10 , PART 11 , PART 12 (You're here) , PART 13

More of "The Poisoned Chalice"

Arthur: Do you want to see what you'll be wearing tonight?

Merlin: (thinking) Not those ridiculous ceremonial robes again! (says) My clothes, obviously.

Arthur: (smiling brightly) No, the official ceremonial robes of the servants of Camelot!

Merlin:(fakes excitament) Oh, I can't wait to see them.

Arthur: (pulls out a very nice and elegant robes, nothing to do with the buffon custome he wore in his timeline)

Merlin: (mouth open) You... you can't be serious.

Arthur: (frowns in confusion) You don't like them?

Merlin: Are you kidding? Arthur, they're gorgeous! They look more like noble's clothes than servant's clothes. I... I can't use that.

Arthur: Too bad. You're using them. (throws robes at Merlin, who catches them in reflex) In fact, Keep them. They're now yours.

Merlin: What?! Wait! Arthur-

Arthur: You're welcome (leaves before Merlin can't give him the clothes back)

Merlin: (in shock for a few seconds, but then puts the robes on and smiles) Uhm, they fit perfectly. Just like the other ones. (processing) Wait, how did he know my measures? 😧

Time skip. Just after the revelation the cup was poisoned.

Uther: (furious) Who dare to try to poison my son!

Merlin: (raises his voice) I know who did it!

Arthur: Merlin don't-

Merlin: (points at Nimueh) It was her! I saw her entering the room were the ceremonial goblets were at night!

Nimueh: (surprised pikachu face)

Uther: (suspicious, to Bayard) Doesn't she work for you?

Bayard: (unsure) I don't recall her face.

Merlin: (mumbles a revelation spell to undo the glamour Nimueh put on herself)

Arthur: (subtly stands infront of him, so nobody sees Merlin's eyes turn gold, thinking) Has he always being this careless for gods' sake!

Uther: (livid, shouts) Nimueh! (to guards) Seize her!

Nimueh: (Runs)

Arthur: (tries to go after her)

Uther: (stops him) Don't. She's too dangerous.

Arthur: Do you know her? Who is she?

Uther: Nimueh. She's a very powerful sorcerer. No one you should mess with.

Arthur: (thinking) And yet you messed with her (turns to Merlin) Merlin, we have to-

Merlin: (already gone)

Arthur: Merlin! (thinking) He did not go into danger alone again! He did not just go to confront a powerful sorcerer all by himself. This motherfu- (shouts, between furious and concerned) Merlin! (leaves where the guards went)

Uther: Arthur! (sighs and turns to his knights) Go with him.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the woods.

Nimueh: (stops running to take a breath)

Merlin: (appears) I must say that was a really intelligent plan. Pretending to be some innocent maiden and trying to make me believe Bayard poisoned the goblet. But you won't fool me. (thinking) Not twice.

Nimueh: (laughts dryly) I understimated you. I'll give you that.(straightens up, smirking) Come now. We are too valuable to each other to be enemies.

Merlin: (dryly) I share nothing with you.

Nimueh: Don't you want Arthur to become king?

Merlin: You just tried to poison him!

Nimueh: No, I was trying to poison you. You keep interfiring in my plans when we have the same enemy. I have nothing against Arthur. It's Uther I want to destroy.

Merlin: By killing innocent people? Sorry if I'm not okay with that.

Nimueh: Sacrifices must be made for the greater good.

Merlin: You just seek revenge, not justice. Nothing justifies what you've done. (Steps forward) I'll make Arthur king when the time is right. But you won't see that day. (extends his hand) Astrice! (strikes her with light of energy)

Nimueh: (traps energy in her hand) Your childish tricks are useless against me, Merlin. It's a shame, you could've been a powerful sorcerer, perhaps, if you had the time, the training and the experience, but you are no more than a newly hatched chick that hasn't learned how to fly. I, on the other hand, have been practicing magic for decades. I'm a Priestess of the Old Religion. I am an opponent you could face but not defeat Forbearne! Akwele! (Throws fireball at him)

Merlin: (stops fireball midair without moving a finger)

Nimueh: (utterly confused) ... What? 😨

Merlin: You're right. Immature talent can't overcome decades of experience. But an experienced talent can. Akwele! (Throws fireball back with more force and bigger)

Nimueh: Scildan! (makes a invisible shield so the fire doesn't touch her) Forbairn ypile! (Makes a circle of fire around Merlin)

Merlin: Cume þoden! (Makes a whirlwind that blows the fire and then strikes Nimueh against a tree) Fire is not the only element you can work with, you know?

Nimueh: (smiles) Oh, I know. Gewican ge eorðe (makes a hole in the ground and Merlin falls there while he screams. Then she stands up and starts walking to the hole, limping a little, and says to herself, rubing her back) Oh, that hurt.

Merlin: (emerges floating in a piece of earth and stone, eyes golder than ever) This is going to hurt more. Eorðe, stanas, hiersumaþ me. Akwele! (Jumps from the rock and it goes to strike Nimueh)

Nimueh: Stanas tobrytan! (manages to break the rock into pieces but she's still hit by them and is severely injured)

Merlin: (stands over her with a somber expression)

Nimueh: (recoiling in fear, weakely) How...? How can this be? You shouldn't be this powerful! You manipulate magic as if you've been practicing it for a life time!

Merlin: (coldly) You don't have to know. (Starts to create a fireball in his hand, about to make the final blow)

Lancelot: (appearing in the distance, meters behind Merlin) Hey! What's happening?

Merlin: (the flame dies as well as the gold in his eyes and he turns around, wide eyed, whispering overcome with emotion) Lancelot?

Nimueh: (takes advantage Merlin is distracted and pulls out a dagger hidden in her leg)

Lancelot: Look out! (Runs to them)

Merlin: (moves away just in time so the dagger cuts his neck superficially)

Knight 1: (far away, but getting closer) I think I heard something!

Knight 2: (far away, but getting closer) This way!

Nimueh: (runs away as fast as she can with all her body hurting)

Lancelot: (goes to Merlin) Did she hurt you?

Merlin: I... (falls)

Lancelot: (catches him before he hits the ground) By the gods! She did! (Checks him, full panic mode)

Merlin: (thinking in Lancelot's arms, only able to move his eyes) No, she did not. The wound is barely a scratch but she put a paralyzing poison on the blade, the sneaky bitch. 😑

Lancelot: (sees Merlin's neck is bleeding, worried) There's so much blood.

Merlin: (Thinking) No, there isn't. 🙄 Honestly, Lancelot, have you seen a serious wound before? (Analysing his symptoms) Hum... It's not a letal one, the effects should go in an hour or so.

Lancelot: (checks his vital signs and sighs in releaf) He's still alive.(shaking Merlin) Hey! Can you hear me?!

Merlin: (Thinking) Yes I can! I just can't talk or move, damn it! 😠 I did miss you though 🥺. Why did we have to meet again like this? 😖

Arthur: (arrives with his knights) Merlin! (raises his sword, furious) Stay away from him!

Lancelot: (puts Merlin on the ground gently and steps back, hands up) I was just helping him! The girl. She did something to him. He's seriously hurt! He needs help!

Merlin: (thinking) No I'm not! I'm just... ugh, never mind 😒.

Arthur: (finally sees Lancelot's face and his features harden due to the resentment he feels towards the man he once considered a friend but then betrayed him by getting involved with his soon to be wife in his other timeline) Arrest him.

...

Before you ask why doesn't Arthur know Gwen was echanted and Lancelot was a shade that time if he's from the future, well the only one who could've told him that was Merlin and he was a tree so... And I don't recall Merlin ever mentioning any of this to Gaius. But even if he did, I think Gaius just focused on telling Arthur everything Merlin did for him with his magic, and the man is old, he could easily have forgotten to tell him a couple of things.

#merlin bbc #bbc merlin #merthur #merlin #merlin fanfic #merlin fic #merlin prompt #merthur fic #arthur and merlin #merlin and arthur #merthur prompt #Arthur and Merlin travel back in time without knowing the other is from the future too AU

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g0nta-g0kuhara · 5 months

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The Chapter 4 Essay Part 1: Kokichi Ouma

A metapost on my thoughts on Kokichi’s overall motivations and Gonta’s actions during ch4. Split into two parts. You can find the Gonta half here: (LINK)

I think the way Kokichi acts when he’s telling the truth says something crucial about his personality. When he’s telling the genuine truth, his expression becomes carefully neutral.

(post trial, chapter 1)

To me, it feels like he’s trying very hard to keep this face of neutrality. Normally, he’s able to expertly express any emotion that he wants to. In these moments, its almost like the emotion he’s feeling is so overpowering that he’s trying to repress it in order to maintain control over the face he presents to everyone else, but isn’t quite able to do so.

Kokichi is very careful about keeping people from seeing the parts of himself that he doesn’t choose to show. His villain persona and constant lying is part of this- He wants to keep people away from him. During the events of the killing game, he uses the distance that he creates in many ways. Part of it was that not having many close alliances allowed him to go off and do whatever he wanted during daily life. This let him explore the school and investigate the truth of the killing game without interruption or much attention. Lying also gave him distance between the game and himself. Pretending that the killing game was fun might’ve been his way to cope with everything that was happening. I think Kokichi is really damn good at separating himself from his emotions, lying to himself to do what he thinks needs to be done. This line from Chapter 1 is pretty telling…

(post trial, chapter 1)

This was also something he says himself to Kaito in the exisal hanger during chapter 5.

(post trial, chapter 5)

I’m inclined to believe everything that Kokichi says to Kaito in the exisal hanger. As Kiibo says when Kaito questions it, “I think his dying words may have been the honest truth.” Knowing he was about the die, and that he absolutely needed Kaito’s help to get his plan to break the killing game to work- to achieve his genuine, true goal- I don’t see any reason for him to lie.

This emotional distance extends past just the killing game. I think it's a key part of how he interacts with others around him.

Kokichi is an ultimate leader. I think he uses his talent throughout the game in an attempt to “lead” everyone from the shadows. He wanted to stop the killing game and escape with as many people as possible. However, his methods are very ends-justify-the-means. I believe that he did genuinely care about everyone at the ultimate academy, but in the detached way a distant king might care about his subjects. On the other hand, if he had to use or sacrifice a few as pawns for the greater good, that is what had to be done. It’s not like it didn’t emotionally affect him, but I think he was deliberately trying to keep his distance so that it would not impact him as much, and so that he could continue trying to tear the killing game apart with as many tools in his arsenal as possible.

(post trial, chapter 5)

With this core motivation in mind, this brings us to Chapter 4.

In my opinion, the Killing Game Busters was never a plan that was meant to succeed. From an in-game perspective, the idea that he was originally going to follow this mercy kill plan doesn’t make sense to me. Firstly, Kokichi already had suspicions that they were being watched as early as chapter 3.

(post trial, chapter 3)

…and he later confirms that he was fully convinced of this fact when Monokuma agreed to reuse the chapter 4 motive in the virtual world.

(post trial, chapter 5)

He knew that this killing game was for somebody else’s entertainment. I’ll go a bit into the secret of the outside world in a moment, but considering this, I don’t think he ever fully believed in it. Choosing to mercy kill everyone, in the name of a “truth” that was incompatible with what he had discovered… just doesn’t make sense to me.

Not to mention, from a narrative standpoint, I think the idea that he was completely for this mercy kill plan, decided to throw out the plan mid-trial, and then start an entirely different plan to end the killing game in chapter 5, isn’t very compelling. It weakens Kokichi’s overall character by making his motivation less cohesive and making him seem less organized over all, which I think is one of his strengths as a character. A Kokichi that is this fickle with what he’s trying to do would not have been able to write the script for chapter 5.

I think he always had different goals in mind with the Killing Game Busters. The first was something that is made very clear in chapter 5, but started here in chapter 4: He wanted to stop the killing to give himself room to break the game while minimizing deaths. The second was to further villainize himself, for all the reasons I talked about above, and some more I will get into in a little bit.

Seeing the secret of the outside world was undoubtably disturbing, regardless of whether he believed it or not; there is a noticeable shift in how Kokichi acts before and after he swipes that card key. Combined with discovering that Miu, someone he’d been working with closely, was planning on murdering him, I believe that seeing the destruction of the outside world pushed him towards more drastic measures than what he had been doing in previous chapters. He decided that in order for his plan in chapter 5 to work (which he had almost certainly already been planning at this point, considering how elaborate it was), he needed to make everyone question if pursuing the truth was the right thing to do at all.

After Miu’s body discovery, nobody was really worried about losing this class trial. Everyone had seen how Shuichi had guided them all to the truth and caught the blackened three times in a row, despite the unique difficulties in each case. They had full confidence in his abilities.

(investigation, chapter 4)

Shuichi is also not really doubting his abilities as a detective anymore. One of Shuichi’s core internal conflicts is his fear of the consequences of revealing the truth. Up to this point, it seems like he’s been moving past it. Especially after catching Korekiyo “Actual Serial Killer” Shinguji, who had no regrets or grey motivation for his killings. Shuichi’s morale, and subsequently everyone else’s, was at an all time high. (Of course, he was starting to feel a lot of pressure to solve these cases and save everyone on his own… but that’s another issue. ily Shuichi)

If Kokichi could take the wind out of Shuichi’s sails, really destroy the confidence he had built up so far, he could set up his impossible trial in chapter 5 to be more likely to work as intended. Everyone will be less motivated to try and figure out what happened if they are uncertain that finding the truth would actually result in anything good.

And I do believe he was trying to knock Shuichi off balance specifically. Damaging his confidence is one thing, but he was also deliberately trying to drive a wedge between him and Kaito. He antagonizes Kaito all chapter 4 investigation, including making up a nickname for Shuichi (“Shumai”) that directly riffs off Kaito’s closeness with Maki. He insists into the trial that he and Shuichi are partners now.

(class trial, chapter 4)

(Sidenote: Kokichi’s behaviour during trial 4 is genuinely really interesting to me. On top of the direct digs like this, he says a lot more subtle things to get under Kaito’s skin during trial 4 that I think are super neat to pay attention to.)

Theoretically, pushing Kaito away from Shuichi, combined with the powerlessness he’ll feel in the wake of the truth of both trial 4 and the outside world, could make him easier to convince to join Kokichi’s “side”. He even directly asks Shuichi to team up with him before leaving the virtual world:

(daily life, Chapter 4)

This leads me to believe that Shuichi was originally the one that Kokichi intended to use to build his impossible trial. I mean, if Shuichi was the one in the exisal hanger and presumed dead instead of Kaito, the chances of everyone else solving that mystery drops Significantly. Everyone else, aside from maybe Kiibo, was 100% convinced that Kokichi was the mastermind at that point. No one except Shuichi would’ve tried to dig as deep as he did, for better or for worse. I think this idea is supported by the note that Kokichi wrote next to Shuichi’s face on the whiteboard in his room (“trustworthy?”). He was clearly considering Shuichi as a person for one reason or another, and I believe this is it.

By condemning Gonta, who everyone else perceived as a kind soul who would never hurt anybody, someone who was struggling to understand what the virtual world even was with his amnesia, would be perceived by the others as kicking someone when they were down. Gonta has an absolutely miserable time through the accusations and wholly blames himself for how things turned out in the end. That, and Gonta’s actions were even well-intentioned. The secret of the outside world was apparently so horrible, Gonta thought it would be kinder to mercy kill everyone rather than force them to face it. This result would make everyone question if the truth was really as undoubtably good as they had come to think so far; Not only did Gonta suffer because they had to find the truth, but seeking the secret of the outside world would apparently also only lead to suffering. This would make them hesitate during Kokichi’s impossible trial.

(class trial, chapter 4)

As I said before, Kokichi’s second goal for trial 4 was villainizing himself even further. He says that this was a goal himself to Kaito in chapter 5.

(post trial, chapter 5)

Part of this villainization was just adding to the persona he had already created for himself and that I already talked about his motivations for before. The other part was what he says here. He specifically wanted everyone to think that he was the mastermind. This gave him leverage in two main ways. First, making himself appear to be the mastermind with an actual mastermind as hands off as Tsumugi genuinely gave him power over everyone else. He used this in chapter 5 to put a pause to the killings and give himself more room to enact his plan to break the killing game from the inside.

(daily life, chapter 5)

Although he then says “You guys can commit suicide together or kill each other… / Or, you can change your mind and stay here! You’re welcome to do that too!”, having experienced the secret of the outside world already, I think he’s pretty confident in what they will be feeling in this moment. No one is going to kill each other, and he knows that. He wants them to take that second option for the time being while he sets up his plot.

Making himself appear like the mastermind also benefited his impossible trial plan directly. Everyone would be much more likely to vote for someone they were convinced was the mastermind rather than one of their friends. No one would suspect that it was really him that was the victim.

“Using Gonta and making him into a murderer” was a significant part of how he villainized himself, but the way he treated Gonta during this whole experience was also a major factor. Starting as early as just after Miu was killed, he begins to be really aggressively mean to Gonta. He just straight up bullies him throughout the second half of the trial.

(daily life, chapter 4)

(class trial, chapter 4)

And then, after all this, he acts remorseful and sides himself with Gonta at the very end. It isn't genuine emotion like he felt before Kaede's execution, shown by his neutral expression. To me, this uncharacteristically open expression of grief feels like it was just set up to exacerbate the impact of his cruelty after Gonta’s execution. At this point, everybody’s little faith in Kokichi has been shaken significantly. With the shock of the trial, maybe you Could start to believe they were on the same side, as a team. Then, at the reveal of the extent of Kokichi’s manipulation, that is all ripped painfully away again.

(post trial, chapter 4)

Even if these parts of trial 4 make my stomach turn, I don’t want to imply that Kokichi is completely cold-hearted and unfeeling. Actually, I think there were multiple moments in chapter 4 that show him struggling to regulate his emotions and keep face around everyone else while he enacted this plan.

1: I don’t think Kokichi initially planned to make the reveal that Gonta was the killer as dramatic (or frankly, a bit traumatic) as it ended up being. He had been carrying himself a certain way during the first half of the trial, and I think Shuichi lying to his face in front of everyone about Kokichi’s own alibi dramatically changed his attitude. I mean, Shuichi lied (as he had done almost every trial and gotten 0 flack for) and Tsumugi even called him out on it, but everyone believed him over Kokichi anyways. So when Kokichi lies, it’s completely inexcusable, even though he’s been working tirelessly on his own trying to save everyone?* But when SHUICHI lies, and gets caught in it, people go along with him? They don’t doubt their trust in him for even a second? This double standard infuriated him. It’s at this point that he completely shifts in energy. If Shuichi, no, everyone, is going to disrespect him like this, he was going to make them suffer for it.

(class trial, chapter 4)

2: Kokichi only goes full villain after Kaito says “Kokichi, If you really cared for Gonta, explain yourself to everyone” in the post trial. I think that even though he was always going to paint himself as the villain, he was legitimately affected by the things that had just happened (Gonta’s death, Miu’s attempted murder, the secret of the outside world, even if he knew it wasn’t real) and what he’d just done. Even if he was trying hard not to be. The sudden shift he has from not saying anything to cackling about how little he cared about Gonta feels to me like he was kicking himself back into gear after trying to process some genuinely difficult emotions. 3: After Kokichi punches Kaito down, and everyone completely ignores him in favour of helping Kaito up, Shuichi says these iconic words to Kokichi: “Kaito always has us by his side, see? But no one wants to be around you. / You’re alone, Kokichi. And you always will be.” Kokichi responds like this:

(Post-trial, chapter 4)

There’s something about the way he cuts himself off, pauses, and then his mask falls. I think Shuichi’s words got to him more than he wanted them to. Honestly, Kokichi’s attitude towards cooperation, keeping everyone at arm’s length, and insisting (to himself) that he (as a leader) must fix the killing game completely on his own just seems so lonely to me. Even if he is intentionally trying to alienate himself and get everyone to hate him, being so viscerally cut into like this must have hurt. Especially from someone he was trying to work to get onto his side. It’s no wonder he quickly left after this moment.

This is what I think drove Kokichi in chapter 4. He’s a leader who wants to “lead” his classmates into safety, but he isn’t afraid to use underhanded, cruel tactics if he thinks it will get him ahead in the game for the greater good. He viscerally represses his emotions in order to keep himself going and keep everyone else away from him. He tried to destroy Shuichi’s confidence and drive a wedge between him and Kaito to get him on his side for his plan. He used and made Gonta into a murderer to villainize himself and discourage everyone else from seeking the truth.

Whenever I imagine Kokichi on his own, out of the spotlight of the Audience or the eyes of his castmates, he’s never as expressive as he is in the open. I think in reality, Kokichi is a pretty depressed and lonely person. His clownish personality isn’t entirely a facade, and outside of a killing game scenario, I think he would act pretty similarly to how he does in game. But I do think that he uses it as a mask for his true emotions. While I feel like the “evil villain” persona is a genuine part of Kokichi’s personality, outside of the killing game he probably doesn’t act on it as deeply as he does in-game. I also think Kokichi struggles with letting people become close to him, even without anything on the line. The killing game just caused him to lean into these aspects of his personality hard, and in potentially the worst ways.

*I feel like here it’s important to mention that personally, I still think the collateral damage he caused in his attempts to stop the killing game matters. A lot. I don’t think he should be excused for the things he did, even if he had good intentions. This makes him a really interesting, morally grey character, and I like that about him.

#kokichi ouma #danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #ndrv3 #ouma kokichi #kokichi oma #oma kokichi #drv3 spoilers #meta post #long post #(Sorry- I'm not putting this under a readmore because in the case where I change my username or deactivate #I still want this post to be readable)#id in alt text #Caveat that this interpretation is entirely based on the english localization #which I still think is valid #Part 2 coming in literally a couple minutes- just need to read over it one more time and add tags #shut up me

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navybrat817 · 3 months

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For the potential au I can't stop thinking about a mythology type story with Bucky.

Maybe the reader made a deal with Hades to bring back her lover (like Meg from Hercules) or maybe the reader is the goddess of love and is banned from seeing Bucky. Or maybe Bucky goes to Asgard on a mission and meets a goddess that he falls in love with.....

Either way I love the lyrics from One Directions You & I "not even the Gods above can separate the two of us"

Ooh. These are fun! ❤️

Since there are three different AUs...

Hades

Bucky is a version of Hades and you make a deal to get your lover out of the underworld. Loosely based on Orpheus and Eurydice, but you have to take your lover’s place in the underworld when the deal falls through.

Another God will try to bargain for Bucky to release you, but he refuses to let you go.

Though Bucky made the deal because he knew your lover would fail and you'd take his place, he doesn't smother you for your affection. He understands what has been done and that you need time to heal and love again.

Instead of having Cerberus, he has a cat. Alpine. And Alpine adores you.

You grow to love your afterlife. Bucky included.

Goddess of Love

Many mortals love you, but Bucky is the only one you love in return. So jealous God sends a Goddess to seduce him in the hope that he'll break your heart, but he is devoted to you.

The jealous God bans you from seeing Bucky. Literally. You’re unable to gaze upon him, no matter how hard you search for him.

To add salt in the open wound, Bucky is muzzled and you can't hear him call out or declare his love for you either.

A kind Goddess takes pity on you when your tears nearly cause a flood and convinces the jealous God to grant you one day a year to see Bucky: February 14th.

Bucky has a shrine built in your honor and you promise to find a way to break the curses put upon you. No matter how long it takes.

Asgard

Bucky doesn't know it, but his destiny is to die in Asgard as his sacrifice will save the lives of many.

Steve Rogers will also give his life for the greater good.

Though Bucky falls in love with you almost immediately and you fall for him as well, you know the fate that awaits him and can't stop it. You’ve tried.

You try to warn Bucky that the two of you will not live a long life together, but he doesn't care as long as he can be with you. He'll cherish every moment as long as you're his.

A frenemy has found a way for you and Bucky to be together in the afterlife, but you have to give him something in return.

Wow. Are these all tragic? Happy endings, of course. Love and thanks! ❤️

Potential AU and Five Facts

#navybrat answers #ask game #writer ask #bucky barnes #hades!bucky barnes #potential au #loveisallyouneed1125 #sending love ❤️#asks are always appreciated

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bestanimatedmovie · 1 year

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Choose your favorite!

Either way, Puss is losing a life here

Vote in the other polls!

What fans say:

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish:

It has a very well done and mature depiction of serious topics (mortality) and mental health. My favourite scene is the depiction of Puss having a panic attack and Perrito comforting him. Also great animation and all the characters are amazing.

The trio of puss+kitty+ perrito was really fun and I loved Puss and Kitty’s relationship. The scenes with Death gave me chills when I saw it in theaters. The animation was gorgeous, the character arcs are very well done, every character is entertaining to watch and it's paced impressively well. Probably the best animated movie I saw in 2022

The animation, the characters, the details, the story, the comedy, the messages, the animation style, All OF IT!

I absolutely love the characterization, the fact that they managed to wrangle BLOOD into the movie was insane to me when I watched it in theaters. I was so entranced lol

It’s a fucking cinematic masterpiece. I nearly cried this film changed a part of my soul. The animation is incredibly stylised especially for the fight scenes, the locations are beautiful and the characters are all enjoyable in their own ways. The music is so good i recommended it to my music teacher on the basis of looking at it for leitmotifs. Genuinely one of the best films I’ve ever seen.

The opening scene is absolutely gorgeous + Kitty & pib's relationship is so important to me. they invented true love. <2

I've been fixated on this movie for five months now and it's not stopping; the animation is inventive and stunning, the characters are all in-depth and well-written, the antagonists are all a delight, the themes stay with you ages after you walk out of the theater, it has the most realistic depiction of a panic attack I've ever seen on the big screen in my entire life. It's all incredibly stylish, the music all goes hard, every single scene matters to the greater plotline, never is a character mocked by the narrative for their weakness or naïvete... I'm not a big movie person, but I've watched this over twenty times honestly, and it's impacted me for the rest of my life.

Shrek 2:

Shrek may be one of the biggest memes on the internet, but this movie legitimately SLAPS!!! This is the movie that most Shrek Conoisseurs agree is the best for the mostly great storyline and it's REALLY great comedy throughout. This is also the movie that introduced us to Puss in Boots! The ending is also INCREDIBLY iconic just saying. 10/10

"One of the greatest sequels of all time. Still holds up nearly 20 years later. It's got everything you could ask for. Diegetic music, a giant gingerbread man Godzilla parody, dancing, death/self-sacrifice, Puss in boots, and, most importantly, a banging song that mixes things up (Seriously, the cover slaps way harder than the original. The alternating highs and lows in terms of tempo and intensity really makes it).

Shrek is a good movie. But Shrek 2 is a great movie. It builds off of the world in the previous film, expands and make it more compelling, while still being a fairy-tale modern tale that critiques family relations. There's great jokes, like Shrek pretending to be from the union, the Fairy Godmother breaking her diet as a punishment for someone else, and a knight planting drugs on Puss in Boots. It's an absolutely iconic movie with THE BEST use of an existing song for a climax in any film (fight me) with the I Need a Hero scene, but also is able to slow down and perfectly capture the awkward first meal with disapproving parents.

#Puss In Boots: The Last Wish #Puss In Boots #Shrek 2 #best animated movie #round 2 #tournament poll #tumblr's favorite

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jackoshadows · 5 months

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What I don't understand is why Sansa stans, who want to get rid of Arya in Winterfell, go for the laziest fanon of Arya being a tourist - a theory that's borrowed from ultimate hacks D&D and the garbage TV show and which ending GRRM has repeatedly disavowed.

Arya becoming some kind of world explorer at the end pretty much ignores her book story, narrative arc, characterization and throws away the material in her so far written 32 pov chapters for an ending they came up with because of a made up headcanon. An headcanon which is far removed from the book character.

If one wants to get rid of Arya in Winterfell to make way for Sansa, the least they could do is actually read Arya's chapters and attempt to come up with an ending that makes more sense for the character.

Arya is a character who wants to help. From Mycah to Weasel to Samwell Tarly, Arya is someone who stands up against injustice even at great risk to herself. She's selfless and would sacrifice her personal happiness for the greater good. She wants things to be better, for herself, for her friends, for the smallfolk.

One ending could be Arya Stark as a leader of the Riverlands, helping rebuild from the ravages of war, helping the people who survived. Arya, who has the empathy and the skillsets to help them, who has listened and learned from her father on how to govern. We see Willow Heddle take care of orphans and managing an inn with a quiet efficiency that mirrors Arya's and Gendry hanging around helping her. I could see Arya and Gendry continue their relationship, fall in love, marry and settle down in the Riverlands while Arya either rules the Riverlands as the Tully heir/Cat's daughter or as Lady of Harrenhal helps Edmure Tully rebuild the Riverlands.

Or, if Jon Snow leaves for beyond the Wall as the leader of the new territories and lands there, maybe Arya goes with him. Considering their close bond and love for each other and the fact that home is where each other is - something else that is again established in the books - if she had no choice but to leave Winterfell, going with Jon Snow to help him lead the freefolk beyond the Wall could be another option.

Or if Bran does end up becoming King on the Iron Throne, then she could stay in KL to help her much loved baby brother. She wouldn't like leaving Winterfell, but Arya is a character who sacrifices and does what's right, no matter how hard it is for her to do personally. Plus, she wanted to be a king's councillor and build things. Her training and skillsets with the FM would also make her alert to any future LF/Varys types trying to plot against Bran - not that someone who can see into the past and present needs a master spy...

Or Arya and Brienne start a school for young girls who are interested in learning different things and have teachers who actually develop their talents based on what they are good at instead of being hateful for what they cannot be.

In my opinion, any of these endings is better than 'Arya, world explorer' an empty, nonsensical ending that has no connection to the character's book story and is actually contemptuous of the suffering and trauma this child has been through over several books. Meet new people and learn new languages? What do these folks think Arya has been doing so far? The girl's been traveling from her second AGoT chapter, meeting countless people. sailed the narrow seas, engaged with new cultures, learned new languages. She's been there, done that.

What's even more ridiculous is that it's Sansa stans who often engage in the oppression olympics of Sansa having suffered the worst, that Sansa 'deserves' Winterfell because she suffered the most abuse, that the only ending that makes sense for Sansa is being back in Winterfell because she suffered so much etc. And yet according to these very same folks, Sansa is going to roll up her sleeves and tirelessly work to lead the people of the North, while Arya is going on a cruise ship vacation and vlog about the new cuisine she is trying out...Hey, maybe after having suffered the most of ALL characters in the series, maybe it's Sansa who deserves the cruise ship vacation, you know?

We have the author himself saying that Arya's harrowing experiences and journey through Westeros and Essos has aged her up so much that he considers the character older than some of the 40 year olds in the books! And yet there are still people harping on and on about tourist Arya ffs.

I personally think Arya will be in Winterfell at the end of the books, either helping her younger brothers Bran/Rickon lead the North or more probably as a leader in her own right.

Arya is a central character in the series, the female character with the most POV chapters. There's no way GRRM has one of his lead female characters end up playing a supporting role in her brothers or sister's story. No way.

The author has given her the character development in the books to lead the North. She has a hulking huge grey direwolf at her side - the sigil of house Stark. She is the lone Stark who has the Stark look. Her direwolf is named after the first Dornish princess who changed female inheritance in Dorne - a big clue for a character who has chafed against patriarchal restrictions on what women can and cannot do. I mean this is how we are introduced to Arya Stark in her very first AGoT chapter:

“The Lannisters are proud,” Jon observed. “You’d think the royal sigil would be sufficient, but no. He makes his mother’s House equal in honor to the king’s.”

“The woman is important too!” Arya protested. - Arya, AGoT

It's clear to me that her arc is heading towards her being the first Lady of Winterfell/Wardeness of the North, nicely bookending her arc which started with her wanting the woman to be as important as the man, arguing for equality when it comes to their house. That's how organic story telling and building a narrative actually works.

I am aware of the principal Internet forums about A Song of Ice and Fire and I really used to look at the American and English groups. Nowadays, the most important site is Westeros, but I started to feel uncomfortable and I thought it would be a better idea not to get to these sides. The fans use to come up with theories; lots of them are just speculative but some of them are in the right way. Before the Internet, one reader could guess the ending you wanna do for your novel, but the other 10.000 wouldn’t know anything and they would be surprised. However, now, those 10.000 people use the Internet and read the right theories. They say: “Oh God, the butler did it!”, to use an example of a mystery novel. Then, you think: “I have to change the ending! The maiden would be the criminal!” To my mind that way is a disaster because if you are doing well you work, the books are full of clues that point to the butler doing it and help you to figure up the butler did it, but if you change the ending to point the maiden, the clues make no sense anymore; they are wrong or are lies, and I am not a liar. - GRRM

#Arya Stark #Fandom wank

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builietproof · 4 months

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hope and sacrifice.

I need to expand on this more on here because I'm going insane thinking about this.

the main themes in the rise movie center around hope and sacrifice. hope, being a ninjas greatest weapon and what leo ultimately uses to get the team motivated, and sacrifice which leo actively uses. these two concepts are interchangeable and are used to develop this unhealthy view of being a hero.

leo being the prime example of this.

leo is notorious for being a martyr in the movie not because he wants to be self sacrificial and thinks he deserves it (although a small part of him might think that) but because thats what he's been taught and grown up to think. of taking responsibility. of allowing to take hold of the "burden" of caring for his team, for his brothers. he must sacrifice a part of himself in order to be a worthy leader. no more immature pizza stacking competitions, no, leo must sacrifice that part in order to mold into being a leader. he must sacrifice his childhood.

its no surprise leo wants nothing to do with this idea, its no surprise he's constantly rebelling against this notion and not taking it seriously because as much as we have seen leo act dumb and immature, we know that he is smarter than he acts. he knows that being a leader is sacrificing the part of freedom he loves so much. the part that can joke around with his brothers and can allow himself to easily fight off bad guys without worrying because thats not his job. he's just leo.

thats raphs job.

raph has sacrificed this part of himself. his identity is surrounded by being the oldest, being the responsible one, having the "raph chasm", being the leader. raph was born as the eldest son to take the responsibility and with little to no help from splinter (because lets be honest raphs relationship with his brothers is also very parental), raph has had to create this idea of what being a leader is not only to himself but for his brothers. he has created the mold of being a leader from shows, from experiences, from being the oldest. he must sacrifice a part of himself, a part of his freedom, a part of his childhood, in order for his brothers to be safe.

and now his younger brother is being pushed into this with little to no warning.

(now I could go on and on about how the season 2 finale was the catalyst for raph and leos bond and brotherhood to slowly unravel BUT thats another thread.)

the rejection of the leader position from leos perspective makes so much sense. leo is still a kid. this responsibility isn't for him, he's not equipped to make these decisions. thats for raph. thats for the oldest.

which makes why raph is so upset with leo in the beginning of the movie so much more real. all he's known is this great weight of carrying the burden and guilt of his brothers and the actions that could cause them to get hurt, he has taken the fall, taken the blame, and has done so without faltering (kind of). although leo is the "faceman", all of the brothers show some sort of mask to hide behind in an unhealthy way. donnie hides behind his science and his title of being the "smart one", mikey hides behind the fact that he is the youngest and his many dr. personas. leo and raph both hide behind some form of bravado that masks the fear they have for their brothers and their safety. raph uses his anger while leo uses his laid back attitude. both are hiding their fear. their both scared.

this is where hope and sacrifice begin to blur.

casey jr. introduces us to the idea of hope because he essentially is the human personified version of hope. he is future leos last hope. he is what is left of an entire civilization that has now been destroyed. but what is hope without sacrifice. casey jr. has witnessed both future mikey and future leo sacrifice themselves for the greater good. for hope. since this is all casey jr. has ever known, especially with how he grew up (another major theme but ill talk about that another time) the idea of sacrifice is hand in hand with hope. with winning. with being a hero.

so when leo comes back after raph sacrifices himself so leo can escape, casey jr. is more thrilled than anything that they have the key. because they "won", because raph sacrificed himself, because hope is nothing without sacrifice.

and this is again another reason why leo begins to put the two together and create his own warped idea of being a leader.

being a hero.

learning about his future self, of how much casey jr. idolizes him and calls him "the greatest ninja the worlds ever seen", of how he was a leader and led the entire revolution. of how he saved the world by sacrificing himself. its only until raph does the same does the gears begin to turn.

being a leader is about sacrifice.

and so getting thrown into the prison dimension is the responsible thing to do. its the right thing. its the sacrifice that someone like leo believes is what a leader would do because yeah leos the leader now and leaders do whatever they can to make sure their team is safe.

that their brothers are safe.

the words "its not about me" play into this mindset and although by the end it helps leo learn that he needs to put more trust in his brothers and allow the burden of being a leader to fall on more than his shoulders, "its not about you" is exactly the mindset that raph had in the beginning of the movie. and because of this, raph and leo both are stuck in this cycle of responsibility and freedom. of having to navigate between wanting to sacrifice their future of being heroes in order to just live like normal people for a few minutes or sacrifice their own individuality to bare the weight of the world on their shoulders. and with their situation of being literal mutated turtles created only to become super soldiers, they automatically are deemed special and were brought into this world in hopes of fighting against humanity.

A ninjas greatest weapon is hope after all.

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kleem-o · 10 months

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OMG!!! I loved how the kid!tenko fic was done <3333

ALSO WE GOT YAN!BF!TOSHINORI NOWWWW. Ngl,,Toshi seems like the type of yan who tries to deal with the problem aka tenko,instead of just getting rid of him,especially because he know how much Tenko means to us ☹️

oh babe trust me he DID try to deal with him, specially when he was a kid, man trieedd so hard. But I get it, Toshi is best boy so why is he trying to get rid of Tenko? Well there are two scenarios here. This is how it all started btw

Kid!Tenko may be very feral but it was kinda understandable and honestly a little cute, so of course Toshi did his best to get along with your son, I mean he plans on living the rest of his life with you so of course he couldn't leave out your son.

It was very tiring. He has to endure lots of tantrums from this little boy that wanted him gone.

Every time Toshi would stay over at your place, Kid!Tenko would bang on your door to let him in, interrupting your "cuddle" session with Toshi. Kid!Tenko would lay down between the two of you and hogged you all to himself 😭

Kid!Tenko is a little prankster, since he's just a little kid he was still afraid of being scolded by you, and he wanted to remain as your good boy, so little pranks wouldn't hurt right?

Well yeah, until it wasn't just little pranks.

Kid!Tenko went from placing little lego pieces on the floor to disintegrating Toshi's stuff like phones, to actually tricking him into holding his hand without his gloves.

So yeah, Toshi didn't quite want him gone, but it was honestly troubling. Though it was still a bit bearable since he was still a kid, and his "pranks" are obvious. But its a whole different story once he grows older

Highschooler!Tenko is...a bit deranged.

Don't get me wrong he's still a good boy.. well to you. Years of playing League of Legends turned him into an aggressive problematic teenage boy you know the vibe 😭

But you literally couldn't tell because he was like an angel to you 😭

Anyway, this is where things get serious. It went from pranks to actually meticulously planned shit like, Highschooler!Tenko would make it so instead of hurting Toshi (like how he did when he was a kid which only got him in trouble to you), he would make Toshi hurt you.

Now don't get me wrong, his heart literally breaks whenever you get hurt, but he thinks this is for the greater good, and in his messed up little mind, it was just a little sacrifice.

One time he planted fake evidence of Toshi cheating on you in his phone and showed it to you. You got mad mad and lashed out to Toshi that day, with Highschooler!Tenko smiling in the background.

But it got proven as fake and in the end all was well, in fact you and Toshi might've gotten closer because of it. Despite you lashing out at Toshi, he remained calm and understanding, wanting you to let out your feelings healthily.

Now this is when Toshi decides enough is enough, and thats what it took to think about getting rid of Highschooler!Tenko.

Now obviously he isn't gonna go and kill him or something, just maybe send him abroad in a good college which he told you would be good for your son's future.

And maybe while Tenko's abroad, Toshi might think about making a new family with you. It was always his dream after all.

"Don't worry honey, I promise Tenko would love to go study abroad, he's very interested in computers, right? I'll talk to him about it, don't worry I can handle him. Let's go to bed, yeah?"

i really love this au idk i really want to make a series out of it 😭❣️

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thekingofwinterblog · 5 months

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Soul Eater - The Manga's Unsatisfying Ending.

It is not a big secret that the Manga ending of Soul Eater is not a well recieved one.

There are a lot of very obvious criticisms of it, wheter it be the way the story has no real climax, the relationship between Crona and Maka is a no ending tale that pretends othervise, or the damn madness of boobs.

There are a lot of things to critique about it, just on a surface level. I have seen plenty of them through the years. What I have no seen though is someone delving into why, on a thematic level, the Manga Ending does not work.

Crona

The biggest problem by far, is Crona's choice in the end, because Manga Crona makes the wrong choice at the end. The cowards choice.

Rather than going out and facing the world, and risk the hurt that comes with opening oneself to other people, Crona instead makes the choice to stay to "Atone".

In other words, the lessons of abuse that Medusa hammered into Crona from childhood, of being completely undeserving of forgiveness is not overcome at all.

Crona admits to not being able to go back to the world after everything horrible that has happened, every sin, every crime, every wrong turn.

In the end, this is fueled by cowardice. By choosing to stay, and keep Asura in check, Crona falls back on every single bad lesson Medusa ever taught.

It's all your fault, you dont deserve forgiveness, you dont deserve a happy life, you cannot grow.

I dont think most readers really realised the full implications of all of this, when reading the manga ending the first time,

But the feeling that something is deeply, deeply wrong with this ending is there all throughouth this ending.

The thing is, that on paper this ending could have made sense, after all this kind of self sacrifice ending has been done a thousand times throughout anime and manga... But it does not work here.

It does not work, because in the end, it completely proves Medusa right. She managed to break her child, and in the end, Crona NEVER managed to recover from it.

One of the single biggest problems fans have with the Manga, is that Medusa's death, the final ending of the single best villain the series ever had, feels incredibly cheap.

This is completely true... but not because Crona murdered her in a pique of insane rage and bitterness, but because thats the final note Crona's story ends on.

Medusa's story feels cheap, because there is no real follow up and closure, and far, far more importantly, a thematic rebuttal to her actions.

Medusa getting herself killed by her own child on purpose is not a problem. The fact that she is not proven wrong in the end IS.

The Manga ending with Crona choosing to seal asura on the moon, rather than having to confront the world, and risk it all on a final battle that the crew might, or might not win, proves that Medusa's assessment of Crona as a coward who could never face their fears and always takes the easy way out, was right.

And that is a TERRIBLE note to end the story on.

However the problems with this ending goes much further than that. It also(unintentionally) rejects Soul Eater's themes.

What is the most defining image from the soul Eater Manga? The one image that sums it up it's themes in one go?

The answer is this one, from chapter 15.

An ending where Crona gives up everything for Maka could work as a tragic ending... But it can't work in Soul Eater, because Self Sacrifice for the greater good or even the people you love is not one of it's main themes.

Soul Eater's main theme is comeraderie in spite of every difference, of embracing one another no matter how much it might not make logical sense.

Or as Maka and Asura's final conversation in the anime puts it, that madness and bravery are two sides of one coin.

It is a form of madness to open yourself up to other people, to risk judgement, to risk having your heart broken or hurt by opening yourself up to other people... And yet that is exactly what the protagonists of Soul Eater does all the time.

And it is best summed up in that spread from chapter 15, where 7 different people with a whole ton of personal issues puts all of it to the side, to stand together as friends against the world.

Because they have the bravery to do so, the bravery to take a risk and open themselves up to other people, to take a leap of faith.

Bravery and madness together.

THAT is Soul Eater's main theme, and it is one that it ultimately rejects in the final two chapters of the manga, and not just with Crona, though that is certainly the worst part of it.

Maka and Spirit

But the ending does not just reject it's own themes on the big scale, it rejects it on the smaller one too.

One of the plot points of the last two chapters that left a BAD taste in a lot of peoples mouths, is the interactions between Maka and Spirit.

And make no mistake. It is BAD. Really, really bad, and just like with Crona's choice not to take the risk of going back into the world and having to deal with it all, it COMPLETELY rejects its own themes for the sake of a bad, bad joke, told at the worst time.

Upon the sealing of the moon, Spirit and Maka comes face to face with the seeming reality that Spirit(and several other people) are about to be sealed with Chrona on the moon.

This leads to a very sweet moment from Spirit, where, in what he assumes will be the final time Maka sees him, chooses to give her a smile to remember him by, so her last memory of her dad wont be him cowering in fear from his impending end.

Which is then completely undone in the next chapter.

When returning to earth, and confirming with her own eyes that yes, maba did save her dad with her magic, Maka's response is to revert right back to the spitefull girl she was at the start of the series.

She once more deliberately rejects her dad despite her very, very real feelings of love and relief upon seeing him alive.

It might not seem like much, but in the end, this one, single moment, in the final chapter of the series, proves that Manga Maka could never defeat Asura, because unlike anime Maka, Manga Maka was not, in the end, able to overcome her own personal fears about opening herself up to others.

Just like Crona in the previous chapter, Maka does not overcome her own personal fears of opening her own heart for the people she loves, despite the risks involved.

And that is an absolutely TERRIBLE note to end Maka's entire journey on, given every single bit of character development she has had before this is about doing that exact thing.

Soul Eater Evans

Now the problems with Soul Eater isnt nearly as bad as the problems with Maka and Crona, where their choices ultimately ended up undermining the mayor themes of the story, it simply tries to shove in the idea there was some greater journey for soul eater, where he had some massive lifechanging revelations, just the usual and generic "I have become way stronger thanks to you".

It's not a Bad note to end his character on, but it's telling that rather than just reciprocrate Soul's very obvious flirting, Maka in the final panels is far more conflicted, and in the end, uses his own words to reaffirm her devotion to Crona.

I like Souls a lot, but the fact is, that at no point in this story did he reach a point where he earned this ending, where he could genuienly say that he was done running away from all his problems. At no point did he seek out his broher to reconnect, he did not reconnect with his family, and while I am glad he was able to reembrace his love for the piano in a healthy way, there is a far cry from that, to being able to claim he's conquered all his demons.

Ultimately Soul's actual journey in this story, is the fact that he is not the main character. That is how he is introduced, as a guy who very clearly wants to be this story's focus, but the fact is, he isnt.

Maka is. it is her journey that we actually follow, is her growth and choices that defines this journey, and it is her relationship with Crona, not her relationship with Soul, that this story places all its hopes, dreams, themes, and climax on.

The fact that this climax ultimately failed as a story, does not change that fact.

This is not to throw shade at Soul and his development, as he IS a good character, with his own journey, but the brutal fact is, that he has not earned this ending at all.

He is Maka's partner, and that IS a HUGE part of this story... but it's not the part that the entire climax was built around, and put all its chips on.

The final pages trying to pretend othervise is another way this ending ultimately failed as a story... but its NOTHING compared to the way it failed Maka, Crona, and it's themes.

Conclusion

While im very, very negative towards the climax of the manga, this is not to say that the ending is completely devoid of good parts.

Kid making peace with the witches is a very fitting ending for his character, and fits right in with the Story's themes... Unfortunately, the conflct between Witches and Meisters/Death was not the aspect of this story that everything hinged on.

less said about the madness of boobs, the better though.

Overall, the ending is not the worst thing ever made... It is certainly not Attack on Titan, who's ending and denouncement of free will destroyed it down to it's foundations... Nor is it an ending that does not make any sort of sense within the context of the world and its mechanics... But it is a BAD ending, that completely fumbled its themes at the single most crucial point when it truly mattered at the finish line.

#soul eater #soul eater evans #soul evans #crona gorgon #maka albarn #spirit albarn #medusa gorgon #meta #spoilers #ending #themes

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bitterpngs · 11 months

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...

… trust, huh?

TL;DR: what i want to highlight with this comic: satoru calling suguru "geto" / suguru crossing satoru's metaphorical line and permanently severing his relationship with him. kenjaku's plan in canon will never come to fruition in this au. what happens after is up to you :)

and yes ik the trust quote is in the context of the other 2nd years! i added it bc it fit, in a way.

this got long sorry lol i started to ramble

LAST NAME - what started this all and what i hope others picked up on was gojo calling geto by his last name, not his first: geto. even after everything geto did during jjk v0, gojo still calls geto 'suguru.' he's still 'suguru' to him. i wanted a scenario in which gojo would reject his first name - reject their past and their relationship. this whole comic idea sprung out of being unsatisfied with geto and gojo's canon relationship. personally, im not the happiest with how things were written in the story and feel like the author could've done some things differently. this isn't to say i don't like or enjoy what the author has written either. i just have mixed feelings.

KENJAKU - in case it wasn't clear, the door closing on page 14 depicts geto with stitches on his forehead - aka kenjaku. what that page is trying to convey is that the moment geto killed yuuta, the future where geto's body is used to box gojo ceased to exist. in this au, kenjaku's plan that we see in the canon timeline would never and will never work. by killing yuuta, geto crossed a line and permanently severed his relationship with gojo. if gojo wins here, gojo will dispose of the body properly. the panel after shows a closed door with the memory of who suguru was. the person who suguru used to be and the best years of gojo's life etc etc. but "broken" bc it's gojo truly realizing that's not who geto is anymore + the whole "severing relationship" thing. does this make sense.

what happens after the comic ends is up to interpretation though

GETO'S PLAN - i didnt focus a lot on the specifics of how this could've happened considering geto's plan changed in this au. how it happened isnt really important, you can come up with whatever you want. what i wanted to focus on, and what i hope people managed to pick up on is the situation itself - geto killing yuuta. sorry yuuta. i'll make it up to you.

i ended it here because it felt the best place, but here's some scrapped dialogue of a few seconds after: GETO: "… It was a necessary sacrifice, Sato-" GOJO: "don't you dare call me that" basically to emphasize the first name vs last name situation

GOJO N GETO - ive always felt uhhh. nitpicky, i guess. about the specifics of everything regarding gojo and geto. ive felt unsatisfied for a variety of reasons, and this was basically an idea that sprung out (a looong time ago) of a want for gojo to be angry at and feel more.. negative emotions, i guess, toward geto. i still do genuinely enjoy their canon relationship a lot tho. i enjoy the way they’re written together and individually, i just have different/multiple feelings about the same thing :)

RIKO AND YUUTA - erm there was a scrapped panel... you can find it on my blog if you're really curious but there was a panel of geto 'remembering' riko's dead body (a distorted memory, because the blood reflects yuuta's injuries). it's not necessarily that riko and yuuta are similar, it's that geto becomes a bit like toji in the end. just like toji, geto tries to kill a young teenager for the sake of his own goals. while toji's was selfish and geto's, in his own eyes, was for the greater good, there's still the similarity of killing a child. of stealing their future for their own goals. plus the fact that gojo killed both of them in a similar way.

TRUST - yeah i know the quote is in the context of the 2nd years fighting geto. still. gojo trusted geto to a large degree, despite everything he did. so. it's going here.

PG 4-6 - geto values and cares about sorcerers so so much. again, he was fine with trying to kill yuuta for his vision and all but i dont think he wouldn't feel some level of. conflicting emotions i guess. (i am very against the idea that geto wasn't... trying to kill yuuta? i don't really get that perspective at all. it'd make all of that meaningless imo. but this isn’t about that.) ok im done.

if you read this entire rambly thing, thank you :D hope you enjoyed!

#jjk #gojo satoru #getou suguru #geto suguru #my art #jujutsu kaisen #jjk fanart #gore

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kanansdume · 7 months

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It's so sad that Hera and Sabine got distilled down to their entire personalities basically being "snarky." Like Filoni took the fact that Hera and Sabine had senses of humor that could, yes, make them snarky in Rebels, and revolved their ENTIRE personalities around that in the Ahsoka show.

Like in Rebels, Hera is snarky sometimes, sure, but she's also one of the warmest and most nurturing personalities on the show as well as someone who DOES believe in systems (good faith systems like the Rebellion, not like the Empire obviously) and in respecting that the leadership set in place has good reasons for their rules and orders. Hera is the person who gets upset if the OTHER characters choose to just do whatever they want rather than follow orders. So yeah, she's snarky, but that doesn't mean she's someone who just does whatever she wants. It means she's someone who has a sense of humor.

And Sabine in Rebels is snarky, yes, but she has an entire arc where she goes from being a literal bratty teenager who has some issues with authority and blind loyalty to being a merciful, patient, compassionate, mature adult who respects the necessity of making decisions based on the greater good. She does still like explosives, yes, but her snark and her appreciation for a good explosive does not make up the entirety of her personality. She acts like a bit more of a bratty teenager at the beginning because she IS a teenager in the beginning, but she grows OUT of that by the end of the show and over the course of MULTIPLE different arcs per season. The fact that she's snarky doesn't mean she doesn't respect good strategy and tactics OR that she'd abandon a ceremony honoring someone she loves that she's been asked to speak at OR that she's someone who would make the selfish choice that literally undoes someone else's sacrifice. It just means she happens to have a sense of humor.

Snark is not a personality nor is it something you can base a character's personality AROUND. And yet that seems to be exactly what Filoni has done on the Ahsoka show. They're snarky characters so that means that they disrespect authority, do whatever they want, and act based purely on emotion. How interesting. How unique.

#star wars #ahsoka show #ahsoka spoilers #sabine wren #hera syndulla #by contrast ezra seems to have LOST all of his snark #like poor ezra is just a sweet little bean who doesn't have a single edge to him anymore #and sure he's pretty likable still but EZRA HAD SOME EDGE TO HIM #he was a street kid!#he grew up with the ghost crew who express love through teasing #the man knows how snark with the best of them and you wouldn't know that if all you've seen is the ahsoka show #ahsoka is so calm and aloof that she's not snarky so much as just a distant asshole

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fancifulplaguerat · 10 months

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I have a light rant/appreciation post for Eva Yan because I have been thinking about her a lot recently. I find her character concept compelling, being a utopian in love with utopia itself; with miracles, love, and dreams. All the utopians (excluding perhaps Vlad and Mark) desire miracles, and seemingly resolve that desire through an obsession and commitment to their respective utopias, i.e. the Polyhedron or defeating death. It’s interesting how Eva fits in here, as a utopian utterly “in love with her own dream,” as Clara describes her. I don’t think her aspirations are completely directionless, though—they’re centered on the Cathedral, and I have thoughts (derogatory) about how the game handles this.

I will say that I actually like Daniil and Eva’s similarities, and what their dynamic communicates about the two of them. I particularly want to dissect this conversation Eva has with Clara:

Eva Yan: Is [the chasm between us] that great? Not really. He longs for miracles; he needs living evidence of the impossible... Yet was this not what I used to brood on daily and nightly? Was this not the reason I shed so many tears over our useless Cathedral?

> Look at me, Eva. I can work miracles. I can sense their nature. Mark my words: neither you nor he will get any miracles for as long as you're expecting them with such greed and entitlement!

[...]

Eva Yan: Those who watched Scarlet Nina build the town, who watched Simon play with our children, would never say it's futile to demand a miracle... One can, and in a way, one must!

It strikes me how Eva claims that she and Daniil need ‘living evidence of the impossible,’ like it’s not enough for them to merely dream about utopia—they want proof that it’s achievable, and to enact miracles themselves. Eva’s rebuttal to Clara also shows a similar adherence to hope that Daniil expresses, and in my opinion runs through all the utopians. After all, they are described as “those who believe in the power of the human spirit and the infinite scope of creativity.” The utopians are ultimately about humanity, even if they are often careless towards others; it’s all in service to an idealistic greater good. Daniil and the Kains likewise claim to be motivated by love, which is central to Eva’s character; this is why I don’t inherently hate Eva becoming infatuated with Daniil. It makes sense in that she is a Romantic and Daniil embodies many of her ideals, but at the same time, I hate how her obsession with Daniil is treated, especially how it comes into play on Day 7.

Eva says that she didn’t sacrifice for Daniil: “Don’t torture yourself... Do not assume I’ve done it for you. Not at all. I just wanted to inhabit this place. To bring the Cathedral to life a bit... so that there were at least something miraculous here.” And likewise Daniil writes that, “All she wanted was to put a miracle into practice and become the living soul of the lifeless Cathedral.” With this context, I was willing to put my side-eye away and entertain that her choice was the consequence of her being so eager for a miracle.

But then the game makes it explicit that she did in fact do this for Daniil. It’s especially damning in Clara’s Route, where Eva asks her, “Will you take care of him when I die? Maria let slip that he has three days left to win; it's a commitment he is bound by. I will have to give my own life so he may survive...” which contextualizes the murmurs about Maria somehow convincing Eva to do it. Clara alludes to this in the Bachelor Route, writing, “I know why Eva did what she did. Would you like me to tell you? [...] The true blasphemy is your negligence. You were meant to achieve victory yesterday. You did not.” And there’s more: Eva tells Daniil, “You know... I’m almost happy now, my dear Daniil... I’ve found a way to help you! But hush... for now it’s a secret!” and tells Clara “I’m sure that the Cathedral will spring back to life very soon—for his sake. And I will help...” And besides all this, Eva makes constant comments about how she wants to help Daniil, how she would turn herself inside out for him, and there’s this fucking line, which makes me bite and scratch: “The moment his boots stepped on the dusty soil of our roads, the moment he took a deep breath of our air, the moment his shadow fell on the cobbles of our town, I knew that my life had changed, and that it was approaching its acme. He has come, and now I live for his sake...” like good god I’m sorry I hate it.

To offer a tepid defense, I do think this fits into a larger pattern in Patho about one person giving their life for another, which is particularly prevalent with the Utopians/Humbles. But I still really dislike Eva making this choice for Daniil’s sake, it takes away from it being her personal, if tragic, way to resolve her utopian desire for the miraculous, and does a disservice to her characterization—instead of her motivation resting in her inner conflict, it again becomes “she’s obsessed with Daniil.” And obviously this is complicated, but the entire thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I just think they did her dirty and I hate it because I really enjoy her dialogues, like I love her perspective about the disease and the events of the game. I’m so sorry for what they did to you ms yan

#pathologic #eva yan #daniil dankovsky #patho.txt

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mikeellee · 1 month

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So @bibibbon talked about the chapter and was thinking in sit this one down but...nah, I want to say how...this chapter is another proof this is not a story where Izu will be the biggest hero, but the biggest martyr if he is lucky.

The fact Izu is now quirkless and lost an arm is...gross. really gross. I talked to @doodlegirl1998 how the trope people created in fics where "Izu loses his arm ain't cool?" Is really not cool. He loses an army for shocking value and gains nothing. Edward Elric wants to revive his mother and then save his bother...he lost his power but got something greater in return...and people think Izu and Edward's cases are the same. Not even in fics make similar.

@palesweetscherryblossom Izu lost his arm and quirk to save a lunatic. The fandom is weeping about Tenko's friends "he was so good" cricket noises to Izu as in chapter 1 we saw him doing the whole "helping misfit" but no misfit helped him.

Now .... something some people may not agree. Dfo! No. I dont think it will be canon nor I want to be. Afo has show he doesn't care for Izu (guys Inko already suck as mother...do we need to give this to Izu? What would help? I even think he wants to die now "don't have anything outside for me now")

We saw afo on a "date" with Kotaro and people may think this will lead to dfo. I think it will lead to afo being a creepy. Dude is doing everything to ruin Nana's family for....reasons we don't know. (If Nana was a man...would he have done this extreme? Not calling afo a sexist but if she was a man would the narrative treat the situation the same? Maybe, maybe not)

Afo is alive and well...inside Shig's world. We will see this asshole be his cringe self and ...Izu won't matter. We are seeing more of this joke now...afo walking around and talking to people is supposed to be scary "oooh the demon is among us" and if the writing was good this could have been a great twist....it's MHA. Afo was ausent in the story and is now a pitiful plot device.

A theory I saw...is how Yoichi may be the biggest hero and...sacrifice himself to end afo. So in a way, ending afo and ofa forever. Why he never did this before? Who cares? But this theory is still too optimist.

Izu and shig's memories don't really matter. It's an artificial way to make them seem as if they had a great relationship, they don't. Also ....have we saw any memory that matter for Izu? He has any good memory?

But yeah...afo gave shig decay...somehow. bc why not? You know, if Izu doesn't die...I do hope Eri rewind him so his arm is back.

Not sure if I'm making sense...it's just MHA is a big nothing and at the same time "fuck you Izu. Be silent" and his only theory is ...that fandom clings for some reason is "izu is the son of afo" and for what? What this would change? Afo calls Izu useless...he doesn't like him nor show any paternal love...guys, look how he treats Shig...why he would be a dad or want to be one?

I think next chapter....we will see afo's past again...more of the parasite. Seeing him planning how to ruin the Shimuras (the Shimuras as the newest chewing toy) and laughing maniacally. Why all that? Bc fuck you Nana.

Also.....Izu saw MONCHAN and Hana die. Great. He has no idea who they are but ...he saw they dying.

#hori is a bad writer #a really bad one #dude hates his mc #izuku deserves better #mha critical #anti bakugou #bnha critical #anti dfo #god I hate this theory it adds nothing aside pain #izu is dangerosuly closer to be suicidal #ofa users usually have some degree of suicide mentality #we never left chapter 1! he is told to kill himself and may do it #shig deserved better #even kotaro

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mirageofadesert · 16 days

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Give me more morally gray characters ...

Let me interrupt my regular program for a brief rant about Downton Abbey and Thomas Barrow… well, not really regular as I've been too busy to watch anything with subtitles for the past few weeks. Instead, I passively binged on Downton Abbey while working.

I love morally gray characters, be it Tantai Jin from TTEOTM or Spike from Buffy. One of my favorite characters is Thomas Barrow from Downton Abbey. (Spoiler Alert, TW // suicide, homophobia, conversion therapy)

Thomas is everything I need in a character ... unhinged, angsty and gay.

I loved him from the first rude line to the last. He starts out as a delightful troublemaker with a cruel streak born of fear, hurt and the desire to be respected, fit in and belong. He is, as Baxter understands so well, his own worst enemy, having perfected self-sabotage over the years.

A supporting character for most of the show, the footman-turned-butler's story is usually prioritized over his character development - meaning the writers know where they want him to end up each season, even if it contradicts previous characterizations. This leaves the audience with a character who can be hard to follow at times.

The writing really got on my nerves at times. From conveniently forgetting his medical training when they want him to despair during his job hunt, to pulling any kind of cunning out of him when they want him to appear changed (and depressed), Thomas is always what the showrunners need him to be, but not necessary what would make sense for his character. I'm still annoyed that they made him go through medical torture in the form of conversion therapy and a suicide attempt, and then glossed over these traumatic incidents in favor of boring other storylines. Or how they portrayed his war injury as an act of cowardice rather than desperation.

What I love about him is that he was still a coherent character who remained a morally gray character (the last film aside, because they sort of forgot to give him any of his character traits back). Thomas would still lash out when he was angry or hurt, would still manipulate others for his own gain, and would still feel wronged by the world. Once the world has brought him to his knees, he understands that he has only himself to blame, and he tries to do better - which has its ups and downs. The Thomas we see in the final and in the films still wants to belong, is still a desperate romantic, but he is also so incredibly insecure in a rather endearing way.

Younger Thomas was rather stiff but dignified, trying to appear immaculate, trying to hide the fact that he felt he was anything but. Once the mask comes off, he goes from being a reluctant cat to being full of nervous puppy energy. As a neurodivergent person who has recently struggled with not being able to masks well, I can relate a little too much to this version of Thomas.

Most characters, that start out as villains, either change completely (like Tantai Jin), their behavior will be excused (like Mo Ran or Spike) or they sacrifice themselves for the greater good to redeem themselves (like Spike). Thomas stays more on less morally gray. We understand the reasons better, why he would lash out at others, and we can feel sorry for him. He had a harder life than most, but that still does not undo the harm he has done to others.

All in all, the last film was a bit of a disappointment for me, mainly because a lot of the characters felt a bit off. I had to watch the film twice to get behind the romance with Guy Dexter. What Guy meets is Thomas desire to be respected as a person, to be seen as worthwhile, to escape the life as decorative wallpaper and to finally have a romantic relationship with someone that is rather enthusiastic about him. A lot of their relationships seems to have developed off-screen, based on Guy knowing who Carson was during his proposal and understanding how uncertain Thomas still feels about his role in the household. I wish them well - but not at the expense of Thomas being excluded from the rumoured 3rd film. I hope it takes place in the USA and we get to see him again!

I really wish we would see more morally gray characters like this, even through a quick look into the fandom of Downton Abbey shows me, that not everybody can handle it.

#downton abbey #thomas barrow

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nephilimeq · 1 year

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Teen Wolf and Lack of Character Development - Scott McCall

Incoming Rant: Re-watching the first season of TW I have realised why I never felt that Scott was The Hero of the story even if the writers did not stop hammering the idea that he was pure and perfect and always right. He never sacrifices himself. This is a classic of fiction, the hero will always be the one who makes the greatest sacrifices for the common good and for those they love, renouncing happiness, normality and even their own life.

But Scott never does that. Even in the first season this is very clear. The first few episodes emphasise that playing lacrosse and dating Allison are things he wants, but are dangerous to himself and those around him. The narratively logical thing would be that, after a period of selfish refusal, he would realise that the right thing to do is to give up what he loves until he has better control of himself and his new powers, sacrificing his temporary happiness for the good of others.

Instead, the narrative rewards Scott with control gained through Deux Ex Machina and not hard work, he gets to date Allison and becomes a Lacrosse star without sacrifices and therefore doesn't grow or evolve at all. This keeps up for all 6 seasons. Meanwhile, everyone else around him is constantly sacrificing their safety, sanity and even life for the common good. And ten years later in the movie nothing has changed. Scott’s still not the one performing the sacrifice, he's still not the hero yet. He gives nothing, but the narrative rewards him with true love. Meanwhile Derek gives his own life to save those he loves he is The Hero.

So. Yes. To all of this.

I have made a countless number of posts about Scott’s development. Specifically, his lack of development. The writers had every opportunity to make him a decent character -- and Posey could have performed it and done everything at least moderately well -- but instead, they caved into Jeff Davis’ whims.

There were other writers in the room who should have held Jeff accountable and written Scott as a proper hero: a hero who sacrifices his own selfish wants for the greater good.

They do not have the right to tell us not to like characters such as Stiles or Derek more because they were the ones who wrote those characters using the hero’s journey narrative that they very easily could have written for Scott...but they didn’t. When the creator of Teen Wolf speaks up against those fans, he has no one to blame but himself and the other writers, and to say anything to the contrary just makes him look like a hypocrite.

You cannot expect your audience to believe your main character is a hero when you do not give them faults to overcome and make them a better person.

They wrote Scott as never taking consequences for his own actions -- instead, they had everyone else suffer the consequences of his actions and had them clean up his mess and deal with the repercussions. (not going into detail here because I have already done so on many other posts)

But when you show characters such as Stiles and Derek dealing with complex emotional and physical traumas and then doing things to try and improve themselves, while also dealing with their own mistakes and growing from them...but then don’t hold your main character to the same standard, how can you be surprised when no one relates to them? The accountability for Scott’s lack of accountability can be traced right back to the writers’ room.

I genuinely could have liked Scott. In fact, when he was being sweet and helping his mom, I loved him! He had the potential to be a fantastic main character...but the writer’s neglected their responsibility as writers.

To put it simply: the writers suck.

The only reason the show lasted was because they had good cinematography, and they brought on some experienced older actors into the cast, and they had two natural talents on screen: Dylan O’Brien and Tyler Hoechlin.

That’s it.

#teen wolf meta #npheq ask and answer #nephilimeq ask and answer #teen wolf #scott mccall is a bad friend #anti scott mccall #the writers had so many opportunities to fix their mistakes #this is why I live vicariously through fanfiction #why we have fan fiction #fix it fics #ftw

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